We're building a lake around our house. The first part is about done. Here are some pictures

You start with a keyway, a deep cut through all the muck and topsoil and into the base clay to make a water proof barrier. It is then packed with clay.

I started by using my 350C John Deere with it's backhoe. Trouble was, I got stuck and it took some time to get it out.

Real stuck!

I ended up hiring a friend with his much bigger machine to get it finished. Rain was coming and it would have been quite a mess.

It's about 15 feet deep in this picture. My old dump truck should give some perspective, although the lake doesn't show up looking nearly as big in the picture as it does when you are standing there. This is from the front door of the house.

This is looking back at the house from the other side. It goes on to the right about 100 feet.

It's now about 6 feet deeper and the trees are gone.

Taken a few days later. The following are from a walk around on April 19.

Below you'll see the first post for the dock, and in about the center, a big brush pile which needs to be burned. Behind the brush pile is a ravine that has about 8 feet of fill and sediment dirt that must be removed. Eventually, it took about 30 dump truck loads to get it out.

Just to the right about 6 feet of muck has already been removed from that low spot where the loader tracks are. The tree just to the left of the loader tracks will comeout, and on up in there for about 40 feet and about 30 feet wide, going behind those two trees on either side of the one coming out.
The small amount of water is what drained out of the muck as I disturbed it. It was gone in about 2 days.

Below, there will be another 3 feet or so removed and put on the face and top of the dam.

What does that song say, something like "some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug"?

I was trying to pull a fair sized tree, complete with root ball, onto the brush pile. I gave it one last tug, raising the bucket to get a bit more lift. The chain hooks are on the ends of the bucket, pulling from one side. It was just a bit too much, with the bucket a bit too high, and the trackloader just walked right out from under itself. It's amazing how quick you can get into trouble.

We got all the dirt out that was coming out and I got a couple pipes and started drawing water from a smaller pond about 1pm. By 6pm, there were fish swimming in it. (freshly caught from one of the other ponds).

You may notice it's about 3 feet deeper than the earlier picture. We took a bunch more dirt out to build the next section of the dam. It's total depth when full is about 20 feet over a big part of the bottom.

It's about 2 and a half to 3 feet here, and there are some large catfish swimming in it already. This was taken on Wednesday evening.

Now we start on the next part - water on the other side of the house.

Now, in the picture below, taken Friday evening, we have about 8 or 9 feet of water. Many more fish have been added. Top soil (black dirt) has been added and graded on the top, back and part way down the inside of the bank. It's been seeded and straw has been spread. Rain forecast for the next 3 days should get the grass growing.

As I write this on Saturday evening, a little over 72 hours after starting to put water in, it's raining and the water level is almost to that big clump of dirt in the middle of the picture on the bank. One advantage of pulling water from another pond is that it is fairly clear water. Usually when rain fills a pond like this it washes a lot of mud in and it's a big muddy pit of water for some time - like months. Visibility right now is about 2 to 3 feet.

Now, dock building will be finished. This is Saturday evening about dark, it's rained me out, but more dock will be built tomorrow.

Sunday night, Dock is pretty much done. It needs braces on the legs and the swim ladder rungs put on, but I ran out of bolts. If you look close, there is a foot more water than Friday night.